A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



William,'" occurs 1245 



Nicholas,"* occurs between 1260 and 1272 



Warin,'** occurs between 1272 and 1286 



Richard,"" occurs 1303 



John of Donington,'" occurs 1322-44 



Thomas of Litherland,"^ occurs 1347-83, 



resigned 1385 

 John of Wrightington,'-'' elected 1385, died 



1406 or 1407 

 Thomas [of] Ellerbeck,"^ elected 1 6 February, 



1406-7, died before May, 1424 

 Hugh Rainford,"' election confirmed May, 



1424, died before July, 1439 

 Robert Woodward,'^' election confirmed July 



1439, resigned 4 October, 1454 

 Henry Olton,^" elected 28 February,i454-5, 



died before 9 October, 1457 

 Richard Ferryman,^'* elected before 9 October, 



1457, occurs down to 1478 

 Hector Scarisbrick,^'* occurs 1488, died 1504 

 John Barton,^*" election confirmed 6 Decem- 

 ber, 1504, deprived 151 1 

 Robert Harvey,^^ preferred 12 May, 151 1, 



on ' just deprivation ' of Barton, died before 



17 April, 1535 

 Hugh Huxley,"'^ election confirmed 17 April, 



1535, surrendered 1536, buried at Orms- 



kirk, 1558. 



'" Reg. of Burscough, fol. 44, 



'*' Ibid. fol. igi ; Duchy of Lanes. Anct. D., L. 

 592, 601. 



'" Ibid. L. 601, 610. 



'" De/>. Ketfer's Rep. xxxvi, 199 ; Reg. of Burscough, 

 fol. 20. 



'" IbiJ. fol. II ; Assize R. 1435, m. 38 a'. 



'" CjI. Pal. 134.5-8, pp. 384, 436, and next note. 



'" His election (on resign.ition of Litherland) was 

 confirmed by the custodian of the spiritualities of the 

 diocese of Lichfield after the death of Bishop Stretton 

 on 28 March, 1385 ; Reg. of Burscough, fol. no. 

 He was sub-prior as early as I 38 I ; ibid. fol. 84. 



'" Cellarer in 1383 ; Reg. of Burscough, fol. 87*. 

 Sub-pri T at time of his election, which was confirmed 

 on 26 July, 1407 ; Lich. Epis. Reg. Burghill, fol. 



95*- 



'" Lich. Epi;. Reg. Heyworth, fol. 113^, 12;. 



'* Ibid, and Reg. Boulers, fol. 38. Resigned the 

 priorship into the bishop's hands on being convicted 

 of necromancy ; see supra. 



'" Sub-prior before election ; Lich. Epis. Reg. 

 Boulers, fol. 3 83. 



'^' Public proclamation of his election was made in 

 the priory on Sunday, 9 October, and in Ormskirk 

 church on the following Thur-diy. Certificate of 

 confirmation by bishop's commissary dated 31 Octo- 

 ber ; ibid. fol. 42. He is last mentioned under 

 1478 ; Pal. of Lane. Plea R. 48, m. 5 d. 



'^ Ibid. 88. 



^ Lich. Epis. Reg. Blyth, fol. 57^. 



"' Canon of Kenil worth (ibid. fol. 56). 



"' Lich. Epis. Reg. Lee, fol. 34*. At Whitsun- 

 tide 1536 the farmer of RadclifFe rectory was excused 

 half his rent, which was expended on the necessaries 

 of Hugh Huxley, late prior ; Mins. Accts. bdle. 136, 

 No. 219S, m. 10 </. 



The seal of the priory was round, and bore a 

 representation of the south front of the monastery 

 buildings with the roof and tower of the church 

 rising above them. On each side of the tower 

 is a six-pointed star.**" Legend : — 



-j- SIGILLVM SANCTI NICHOLAI DE BVRC- 

 ASSGVHE 



The priory arms, adapted from the Lathom 

 shield, were : indented per fesse azure and or,, 

 in chief between two croziers three annulets 

 argent.** 



II. PRIORY OF COCKERHAM 



This cell of the abbey of St. Mary in the 

 Meadows (de Pratis) at Leicester, served by 

 Austin Canons, was established in 1207 or 1208. 

 William de Lancaster I on his marriage to 

 Gundreda daughter of Roger, earl of Warwick, 

 cousin of Robert, earl of Leicester, founder of 

 the abbey (i 143), had given the canons between 

 1 1 53 and II 56 his manor of Cockerham, its 

 church with the dependent chapel of Ellel, and 

 the hamlets of Great and Little Crimbles.*' 

 Henry II in the latter year confirmed the gift, to 

 which William before 1160 added a grant of 

 common of pasture throughout his fee in Lons- 

 dale and Amounderness.*" His son William de 

 Lancaster II (died 1 1 84) dispossessed the abbey and 

 founded the hospital (afterwards abbey) of Cocker- 

 sand on part of the manor. The Leicester 

 canons obtained judgement in the court of John, 

 count of Mortain, when lord of the honour of 

 Lancaster, between 11 89 and 1 194, against 

 William's widow Heloise and her second hus- 

 band Hugh de Morvill, who thereupon con- 

 firmed the original gift, as did also Count John.*' 

 This was followed by an agreement between the 

 two houses by which the site of Cockersand was 

 cut out of the manor and parish of Cockerham, 

 Leicester Abbey conveying it in free alms to the 

 hospital.-"' Further litigation between the abbey 



'" Figured in Fetusta Monumenta, and in Tram. 

 Hist. Sof. (New Ser.), V, 144 ; xii, Plate xxii, No. 5 ; 

 cf. vol. xiii, 194. See also B.M. Cat. of Seals, i, 471, 

 and for a different seal, Dugdale, Mon. vi, 458. 



'"" Ibid. Watson MS. 5, fol. 123, gives argent per 

 fesse between three annulets sable, and throws doubt 

 on the two croziers having been part of the blazon. 



^' Farrer, Lanes. Pipe R. 391. The evidences of 

 the manor were destroyed by a fire there before 1477, 

 but these and other deeds are recited in a rental drawn 

 up in that year embodied in the cartulary of the abbeys 

 Bodl. Lib. MS. Laud, Misc. 625 (olim H. 72), fol. 



45-5 2^, 1673. 



''^ Lanes. Pipe R. 392 ; Dugdale, Mon. vi, 467. 



*" MS. Laud, Misc. 625, fol. 45-453. 



*" Coekersand Chartul. (Chet. Soc. new ser. 38), xiii. 

 The abbey had also to recover its rights in the King's 

 Court against several tenants in Cockerham and Crira- 

 bles between 1206 and 1209 ; MS. Laud, Misc. 625, 

 fol. 473/ Final Cone, i, 24. 



152 



